For Round 2, we’re featuring Judge and sometimes writer – Joe Frankino! Hailing from Long Island, NY, he’s a familiar face at almost any premier event, having even served as Head Judge for a YCS. This time, he’s decided to cash in all his UDS Points and play! He’s already got two UDS medals from previous events, so he definitely has experience here. He’s taking his Blue-Eyes Deck against Brandon Oldham, from Kennett, MO. Oldham’s using a Monarch Deck today. Due to the newest Forbidden & Limited List, Monarch Duelists have had to get creative with their Decks, and Oldham is now using a rather different build than what we’re used to seeing from Monarchs this year.

Duel 1

Oldham won the roll and chose to play first. He began with One for One, discarding Eidos the Underworld Squire. He Special Summoned Edea the Heavenly Squire in Defense Position, and used its effect. Frankino discarded Effect Veiler to negate it. Oldham Set one card to his back row.

Oldham played Pantheism of the Monarchs, discarding Tenacity of the Monarchs. He used Pantheism’s effect from the Graveyard, revealing three copies of The Prime Monarch. Frankino had no choice but to let Oldham take one of them to his hand. Oldham Normal Summoned a second Edea, and its effect Special Summoned Eidos from the Deck. Eidos’s effect gave him an additional Normal Summon, but Oldham just passed his turn. In the End Phase, Frankino flipped Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, discarding Dragon Spirit of White, to put Eidos on top of Oldham’s Deck. Next, Silver’s Cry brought back Dragon Spirit of White, and its effect banished Oldham’s Set Escalation of the Monarchs!

Frankino drew a second Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. He flipped up The White Stone of Ancients, and Synchro Summoned Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon! It attacked the Edea that was in Attack Position. In the End Phase, White Stone Special Summoned a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the Deck!

Oldham played Tenacity, revealing Caius the Mega Monarch from his hand. He added Domain of the True Monarchs to his hand. He played Domain, and Frankino responded with Silver’s Cry, bringing Dragon Spirit of White back to the field to banish Domain! Oldham Normal Summoned Eidos, used its effect to gain an extra Normal Summon, then used The Monarchs Stormforth! Frankino responded with Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, Tributing it to bring out Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon! Its effect activated, giving Frankino’s dragons a cloak of protection for the turn. Oldham used Eidos in the Graveyard, bringing back Edea. Edea’s effect Special Summoned Mithra the Thunder Vassal. Oldham, using the lingering effect of The Monarchs Stormforth, Tributed Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon and Edea to play Caius the Mega Monarch. Caius’s mandatory effect activated, and he couldn’t target Frankino’s Dragons due to Azure-Eyes, so he banished his Eidos. All copies of Eidos were banished, and Frankino took 1000 damage. Edea’s effect in the Graveyard let Oldham take back his banished Pantheism. He played Pantheism, discarding The Prime Monarch to draw two more cards. He banished Pantheism from the Graveyard, revealing Tenacity and 2 Escalation from his Deck. Frankino chose to give him Tenacity, since he’d played one this turn already. Finally, Oldham sent Mega Caius to destroy Dragon Spirit of White. He Set one to his back row to finish.

Frankino drew his third copy of Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, but still had no Blue-Eyes White Dragon in his hand to use with them! He had one on the field though, and it destroyed Mega Caius. Oldham banished Tenacity from his Graveyard to Special Summon The Prime Monarch. He then flipped up another The Prime Monarch in his back row, putting The Monarchs Stormforth and Tenacity from his Graveyard into his Deck.

Oldham played Allure of Darkness, banishing Erebus the Underworld Monarch. He played Tenacity, revealing another Erebus, and searched out Return of the Monarchs. He activated Domain, reducing the level of Erebus in his hand. He played Return, and Tributed Mithra for Erebus! Return put Ehther the Heavenly Monarch into his hand, and Erebus sent The Prime Monarch and Escalation to the Graveyard to shuffle away the Blue-Eyes White Dragon on Frankino’s field. Oldham Special Summoned The Prime Monarch from his Graveyard, and Tributed both Primes for Ehther! Its effect Special Summoned Thestalos the Mega Monarch! Oldham’s three 2800 ATK Monarchs wiped out Frankino’s Life Points!

Duel 2

Frankino chose to play first, and opened with a hand of The Melody of Awakening Dragon, The White Stone of Ancients, 2 Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, and Master with Eyes of Blue. He played Melody, discarding The White Stone of Ancients to add Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon to his hand. Oldham used Maxx “C” after Melody resolved. He Normal Summoned Master with Eyes of Blue, which returned his The White Stone of Ancients to his hand.

Frankino drew Vanity’s Emptiness. He Special Summoned Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, and moved to the Battle Phase. Master with Eyes of Blue and Blue-Eyes Alternative attacked directly. When Frankino moved to Main Phase 2, Oldham used Erebus’s effect, discarding Return of the Monarchs to return Erebus to the hand. He was expecting Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon, and he was right! Frankino Normal Summoned The White Stone of Ancients, tuning it to Alterative Dragon for Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon in Defense Position. He used then Tributed it to Special Summon Stardust Spark Dragon in Defense Position. It used its effect on itself so it wouldn’t be destroyed in the End Phase. Frankino Set Vanity’s Emptiness to finish.

Oldham Set a back row card.

Frankino drew Dragon Spirit of White. He moved Spark Dragon to Attack Position, sending Master and Spark Dragon to attack directly. Next, he used The White Stone of Ancients to put Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon into his hand. He Special Summoned it, sending it and Master to the Graveyard for Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon in Defense Position! Its effect activated to protect his dragons until next turn was over.

Oldham chose to play first, leading with Foolish Burial for Erebus. He used Erebus’s effect, bringing it back to the hand by discarding his Pantheism of the Monarchs. He banished Pantheism from the Graveyard, and revealed The Monarchs Stormforth and 2 Escalation of the Monarchs. Frankino let him take an Escalation. Oldham played Tenacity of the Monarchs, revealing the Erebus he just got, and searched for The Monarchs Stormforth. He activated March of the Monarchs and Set two back row cards.

Frankino had a hand of The White Stone of Ancients, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, The White Stone of Legend, Trade-In, Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit, and The Melody of Awakening Dragon. He played Melody, discarding The White Stone of Legend, and got two copies of Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon! The White Stone of Legend gave him a Blue-Eyes White Dragon as well. He revealed the Blue-Eyes to Special Summon Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. Oldham responded to the Summon, flipping Escalation and Stormforth! Once the Chain resolved, Oldham tried activating the effect of Escalation. Frankino responded to the activation of Escalation with Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit! He used Trade-In next, discarding Blue-Eyes White Dragon to get Sage with Eyes of Blue and Twin Twisters. He Normal Summoned The White Stone of Ancients and attacked with both of his monsters. In Main Phase 2, he Synchro Summoned Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon in Defense Position. He Set Twin Twisters, and used The White Stone of Ancients to bring out Dragon Spirit of White, banishing March of the Monarchs.

Oldham played One for One, discarding Vanity’s Fiend to get Edea the Heavenly Squire. Its effect Special Summoned Eidos the Underworld Squire. Frankino used Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon to bring in Black Rose Moonlight Dragon! It bounced Eidos back to the hand. Oldham Set Eidos back to the field, and Tributed Eidos and Edea for Erebus. Edea returned Pantheism to Oldham’s hand, and Erebus sent Escalation and The Prime Monarch to the Graveyard, returning The White Stone of Ancients from Frankino’s Graveyard to the Deck. Erebus attacked Dragon Spirit of White, and Frankino responded with Dragon Spirit’s effect to Special Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon from his hand. Erebus instead attacked Black Rose, destroying it. Oldham played March to finish.

Frankino drew The Melody of Awakening Dragon. He Normal Summoned Sage with Eyes of Blue, getting The White Stone of Ancients to his hand. Oldham responded by Special Summoning The Prime Monarch from his Graveyard. Frankino discarded White Stone for Melody, and searched for a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon. He Special Summoned Alternative White Dragon. He flipped Twin Twisters, discarding Blue-Eyes White Dragon to destroy March. He then stacked his two Blue-Eyes for Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon! Cipher Dragon stole Erebus, and Erebus destroyed The Prime Monarch in battle. Cipher Dragon attacked directly, leaving Oldham with 1400 Life Points. In Main Phase 2, Frankino tuned Sage with Eyes of Blue to Erebus for Giganticastle! He used The White Stone of Ancients to bring out Dragon Spirit of White to finish his turn.

Oldham Eidos from the Graveyard, bringing back Edea. Edea’s effect Special Summoned another Eidos. He Special Summoned The Prime Monarch as well, banishing The Monarchs Stormforth. He Set a card to his back row.

Frankino drew Dragon Shrine. He used The White Stone of Ancients in the Graveyard, adding Blue-Eyes White Dragon to his hand. He Special Summoned Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon, and its effect wiped out The Prime Monarch. Next, he upgraded Cipher Dragon into Galaxy-Eyes Full Armor Photon Dragon! Its effect wiped out Edea. Edea’s effect put Pantheism into Oldham’s hand, then Oldham used Erebus’s effect in the Graveyard, discarding Pantheism. Finally, he Special Summoned The Prime Monarch. Frankino was unfazed, as he upgraded Full Armor into Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon! He used its effect to let it attack two monsters this turn, and moved to his Battle Phase. Oldham knew he couldn’t stand up to Frankino’s dragons, and offered the handshake!